My friend, I'm from Brazil and I still don't have much ability to fully understand the English language. However, the way you explain and demonstrate this subject makes me understand everything perfectly. Thank you very much for your videos and I hope everything goes well for your projects! Cheers!
Thank you for such brilliant explanation. I am a 23 year old norwegian, who just about 2 weeks ago started blacksmithing. I have made my first tong out of rebar, but I wil have to modify my forge a little, since it is based on the first model you showed us on the channel about 3 weeks ago. Now I want to build it up like you did in this video. You really inspire, so thank you and keep up the good work
Albert Einstein said "If you can't explain it to a 6 yr old, you don't understand it yourself." Sir, I dare say you have a serious grasp of the subject at hand, and I might add you're not selfish with the knowledge. Thank you!!
Whether you know it or not, your content shows just how much can be achieved by a Can Do Attitude. I appreciate you and all the fruits of your labor, thank you so very much!
I've been using a JABOD for two years while I slowly build a more permanent setup; I use a shopvac as a blower. I made a wooden gate valve that connects the vacuum hose to a metal pipe that sits in a hole drilled in the side of the box. The pipe itself is positioned a couple inches back from the pot with fire bricks used to form the final air channel. The pipe itself also has additional vents drilled in with tight-fitting slide covers for added air control. The box itself it literally made from scrap leftover after renovating my kitchen, lined on the bottom and side with flat stones and filled with several inches of dirt. The pot was shaped using a dirt-sand-plaster mix that holds for at least a few sessions before needing to be replaced. My box has yet* never caught fire and I insulated well enough that even after burning for a few hours, you feel no heat on the side or bottom. Nearby I keep buckets of water and sand along with two fire extinguishers. Every so often I have an ember jump out and need to douse it. I also only forge when fire risks are very low, mostly in spring and early winter (like now). I took this practice up practically on a whim and found I enjoy it rather immensely.
6:00 I have personally had a chip fly off of my sledgehammer anvil and peirce my leg through my jeans. It wasn't mushroomed and was tempered before it was stuck in the stump. Wear safety glasses! Much appreciation to black bear for always mentioning that.
Good morning John hope all is well. When I got started I built a japanese fuigo used a steel pipe and used large sandstone and clay for the tuyere. Later I Upgraded to clay bricks and pearchased a 2 burner propane forge. All this is thanks to you and several other blacksmith/bladesmiths who have helped me become self taught and always learn something new every day. Thanks you all for sharing your wisdom godbless and be well.
Yes, safety are a good thing. Used to have a pair with a metal fragment inbedded in the right lens alongside the temple that had broken off when I was hit by the fragment. Boss was always saying to throw it away and not display it. Company Safety brought new hires around to show what safety grasses are for.
I've got a pair I keep around with a track melted down one of the lenses from where a piece of spatter got under my welding hood and ran down my glasses. Glad it didn't go in my eye.
I like your hammer hitting explanation. The old gent that taught me said to strike the hammer in the same place every time and move the work to achieve what you are wanting to make. I always thought that was good advice for a beginner to help them build up "muscle memory". Looking forward to seeing your updated forge in action. Be safe.
I missed watching this after church yesterday. Another excellent video sir. Edit; I’m one of the guilty ones for advising against poured concrete or river rock forges in the previous video. Dirt is truly nature’s greatest insulator.
sir, i really have to thank you, i've had some blacksmithing tools laying around for years, they were from my great-grandfather, and just focusing on trying to get every together in order to start forging, has really helped me through my depression and anxiety, your videos are just great, keep it going
I realized that the forge I came into posession of recently had a firepot made out of Cast Iron recently (guess how), so i'm looking to this series to get an idea of how to bring it back to working order. Thank You.
Ive got one of those blowers permanently installed in my ribbon burner forge! I have an automotive throttle body on it to tune it. I have put a rheostat on it before, but it doesnt sound happy that way.
Just wanna say thanks man, I'm looking into getting into blacksmithing and this is the only channel that doesn't make me feel like a dummy for not having the right equipment and you don't look down on ppl who are just trying to have fun... keep up the good work bud your making ppl hopeful and happy
That looks like something even a woodworker like me could do. I'll be back next week to find out. Thank you for sharing. Have a great day and stay safe.🙂🙂
Another well made video! I've started watching You few years ago, to get some more ideas. Now i could say that You inspired me to start a channel to also learn some blacksmithing to the people in Poland. I am at the beginning of the journey but I hope that some people can learn something from my video aswell. I also try to show other types of handicrafts or crafts on the channel. Best Wishes John, stay safe to be an inspiration :)
Yes they work with a dimmer switch. Ran one for 4 years, you can also choke it with a piece of cardboard on the intake. When my son was first born I had to be at home. My shop was 4 miles from home. I still had hook orders to fill. I dug a hole in the embankment in the front yard, took my first harbor freight anvil home, stuck a pipe in the ground, attached a hair dryer, lined it with expanded metal from the outside of an old air filter from a generator, maybe threw some sand and plaster of Paris on it. Idr…. Crude though. Half gallons of vodka and baby monitor beside me on my daughter’s outdoor tea party table, a few buckets of coal… never missed a beat.
Much earlier this spring, I finally got around to making my super forge from an old cast iron boiler body, lined the inner walls with clay mined out of the back pasture, and decided to try out the leaf blower repurposed twice from other projects for the forge blower (initially it had been scooped up as an air starter for a jet engine which worked marvelously on sheer volume). I tried a speed controller on it, despite knowing it probably wouldn't do what I was after as it was a two stage blower already, but it would definitely work better on a single speed bounce house blower like yours. I also picked up a ton of salvage piping from a local aerospace company about mid-summer and ended up just running it full bore with a diverter Y section about half way down the tube, which came in perfectly when our weather went to Hades hot in the space of a week, so I had a nice stream of cool air blowing on my backside. Using it on anthracite coal was great, though still too much flow for lump charcoal; I burned through a few cast iron grates I had down under the coals as a spacer, but on oak lump coals, the gases were still insanely hot and igniting a good 11 feet on top of the exhaust stream! Made for some great pictures, but the tree nearby was not a fan, nor was I for fire concerns. Also tried out deer corn on that batch, and while it smells kind of pleasant, the diverted air stream was still quite powerful and just blew it around my basin for the most part. Before winter fully sets in, I scavenged an old cast iron sink from our bathroom remodeling project that looks like it would make a fantastic forge bowl. It's a good 60 pound lump of back ache, but I'm looking forward to trying it out. It's an iterative process. 😉
I built a brake drum forge and I’m using a blower identical to yhe Vevor (but with no brand). I use a normal lighting dimmer to control the blower. Works great.
Another possibilit for an outside forge is a cut down 44 gall (Australia) drum. Iused this filled with clay from my dam, and an old vacuum cleaner that could be set up to blow. An old car heater fan and a 12V battery worked Ok too but not for welding. love your videos.
"If this is you, turn off the fire and practice on wood and nails." Reminds me of a line from my motorcycle license class, the instructors said that when they found out a student didn't even know how to ride a bicycle they sent him home.
Saw one gentleman on YT make a gated y from wood and sheet metal. It was a box with a metal wedge that he could adjust to spill wait way for the twier.
Awesome video. I built a dirt forge and used my shop vac. The newer Rigid ones let you hook the hose to the output. "It's Mega Maid, she's gone from suck to blow" - Colonel Sanders (Spaceballs). Through my crucibal in the pit with charcoal and melted a ton of aluminum cans.
I have one of those blowers. Odd, the guy who sold it to me at a garage sale said it was for speeding up the drying of mud while drywalling. Anyway i had the same idea and use it in my forge. Works great!
Good morning John, thanks for sharing the home made forge with us. Enjoyed watching, stay safe around there like you always do and winter is coming . Fred.
After 40 odd years of carpentry l still find it a bit windy (a carpenter will know what l mean). That's why l'm a big fan of nailers (air and cordless). Luckily, most of my forging hammers have big faces and the "hammered" look is a feature. Lol. A great video that helps make blacksmithing available to practically anyone. John is an inspiration. Cheers.
Thank you for all your videos, I love what you are teaching and how you are helping people reach it under such a minimal budget. Just so you are aware, a rock which has water inside of it, can infact make the rock explode due to the water reaching a boiling tempature. I have seen multiple rock explosions made from river rock being used to make fire pits. This is of course natural stones not concrete. As a teenager my neighbors fire pit which I watched them build, exploded from the center. It had nothing in it other than the rocks that lined the bottom and the sides, and brush from our yards.
What can explode is mortar if used to hold bricks together before it adequately dried. My mom had a brick-and-mortar fireplace built in the back yard, and it did indeed explode when they didn't wait the recommended time to use it. The explosive force was water that had not yet evaporated from the mortar... a steam explosion.
55 years ago, I was working construction driving a cut nail with a straight claw hammer. A chip flew off and hit me almost dead center in the right eye. I could actually see the red hot metal, flying toward my eye. Fortunately, the metal chip was so hot that it literally cauterized the eye as it entered. An operation to remove the chip and several weeks of recovery ensued. So while neither the hammer nor the nail exploded, one of them did shatter with explosive type force. Enough force to Pierce my eye with a shard about half the size of a wooden match head.
John, great information and another great video, I've had a few chips come off of some old metal tools but I've never actually had any stick in me or cut me, it's rather rare even if you don't keep your tools in good condition, i agree with you, keep the tools cleaned and in good repair and they'll give you decades of good service. I'm looking forward to your next video, I've got an old heavy truck brake drum I'd like to turn into a forge, thinking about using a blower from either a school bus or truck for my blower on it and connect it to my solar power in my forge. Stay safe and keep these great and informative videos coming please. John V.
Hammer horn, brilliant 😅 Everyone needs another deck, nailing down a 12’ square of decking will make anyone minimally competent with a hammer; Or roof a house, or shed or porch; Or drive some tee posts for a fence with a hand sledge, not fun but you will learn
I was amused when you had the plastic strips flapping as the air blew through the tube in the forge. It reminded me of a dog licking peanut butter out of an empty jar. I appreciate this series because, with the limited amount of space that I have, I could actually have a forge.
Can't get over your weather range. Hot, dry and a forest fire over the hill but expecting up to 2" snow in the next fortnight? Look forward to the next video to see the forge in action.
Morning Mr John ☺️, such a neat idea for a jdbf. Looking forward to seeing things progress. Really interesting content. Blessings y'all Crawford out 🙏🔥⚒️🧙🏼♂️
As a 3rd generation Chimney mason I believe people are referring to wet rocks being right in the fire. Don't do that lol, but as far as brick and cinder blocks, they will not explode. They may Crack and fracture but it is not explosive. The likelihood of failure is worse if you heat them quickly and they are frozen or filled with water and are immediately next to the fire. But dry brick are fine right against the fire. Tldr: can confirm he is correct about the bricks and block not exploding.
Offsetting the air is how I run my cheap forge. I use a hairdryer into a pipe and adjust the air mostly by moving the dryer closer or further from the pipe like you suggested with the blower. It works pretty well and that's using an old cast iron bbq/fire pit box with ash as insulation, but it's thick iron and even after hours of work it's never shown any sign of getting super hot.
I connected my hairdryer to my coal forge air pipe with a rubber plumbing pipe coupler. Then l wired a rotary dimmer switch to the receptacle that l plug the dryer into. Gives really fine control of the air flow. Can axtually dial it down just enough to keep the fire going. Cut my coal consumption down almost 40 %.
@@dominikmeril1720 I'm not sure if cordless would be a great idea, I often find myself at the forge for 2+ hours at least so I'm not sure how well a battery would hold up just on that part. While you can keep it far enough away for heat to not be an issue i would also be a little concerned about using a potentially flammable battery near the forge when it's up and running either. I'm using a cheap 20m extension cable for mine. Leaf blower might work depending on the power of it, I find a hairdryer can put out enough airflow to melt steel in my smaller charcoal forge if I'm not careful and running it right up against the pipe at max power. That was a lesson from my first attempt at forge welding.
@@bunyanforgings7849 i would use a metal tube as extension so that the hair dryer or leaf blower wouldn't get hot. That would be 1m/±3 feet of distance to the coal. 🤔i just don't know how long that would last. Maybe a cordless hair dryer and charge it with the generator i have. But gasoline is pretty expensive here in germany and i don't have a car so there's the problem of transport
I use the bouncy house blower with a 2” pvc pipe piped into the bung of a 55 gal drum, the drum is then turned upside down and the pipe is burried back to the blower, i then took a 1 tone disk brake and cut the bottom of the drum the take the brake I then drop a 7-1/4 circular saw blade into the brake pot, fill with tinder and coal, light and forge
I would like to say that I enjoy your channel. I can't. It would be an understatement. I look forward to you video each week. Thanks for making such great videos.
Ahh the strangeness of weather. You're hot and dry with a wildfire nearby. A friend in Estes Park posted a picture of a picnic table with 6 inches of snow on it from Las night.🤔
Don't forget that video is prerecorded. It was hot and dry when I recorded the video but we now have about 6" of fresh snow on the ground and as I type its only 8 degrees out. Next week video has been filmed, so I'll probably be back to this outdoor forge in 2 weeks
Something to keep in mind with the bouncy house blowers. I bought one for my forge setup as well, they are a great value for the cost. However a look at the intended use and design is warranted. They are designed to maintain a high static pressure to make a bouncy house work. They are not really designed for moving large volumes of air at low pressure. If you look at the motor cooling air, there is an outlet on the motor but the air supply (at least on mine) comes from the blower itself. There isn't a separate cooling fan specifically to cool the motor. Therefore if you reduce the back pressure you could also reduce the cooling air supplied to the motor. Moving more air also increases the load on the motor increasing the need for cooling. I'm sure the engineers allowed for at least some air loss in the design but without knowing for sure how robust that allowance is caution is advised. While they might run just fine with little to no back pressure I opted for a bigger blower (1hp) and put an adjustable restriction in the outlet to maintain a fair amount of backpressure on the blower itself. So far I've never had a problem. It may be a non issue depending on how the engineers designed them but I wouldn't like the unpleasant experience of looking up from the forge to find the blower blowing smoke from the motor or just stopping from overheating.
You are absolutely correct saying cinder blocks will not explode I think they probably misunderstood something the only rocks that I know of that will explode when heated (more so a violent fragmentation that can shoot it across the room) is certain rocks that you will find in rivers lakes and oceans I'm going to try not to bore people with geological explanation but basically certain types of rocks absorb water very deeply over a prolonged period of time and when you heat up the stone the water inside of it turns to gas with no where for it to go so the rock fragment some can be pretty mild others very violent depending on the rocks structure and how much water it However there are two things to know 1. The period of time need for these rocks to soak up water is not measured in hours or even years it is measured in centuries 2. Concrete will never have this happen Simple explanation concrete is made through chemical reaction water makes it harder this is why old concrete is brittle and because of this chemical reaction water will be absorbed into it however it will form a new compound instead of being trapped in between the individual grain
That's a good reason to make sure you hit the soft red hot metal your forging, not you anvil. Even regular anvils are hardened and can cause a hammer to chip if you hit the anvil
As a kid I was misusing a hammer against a chisel or something, and a chip flew off hard enough to embed itself in my calf. I would have worn safety glasses if I had them, and knew what they were.
Probably about 2 dozen. But use what you have available, it doesn't have to be blocks. The big thing is to make sure there is plenty of dirt, the type doesn't matter, so that the fire is not up against the block, brick or stone.
I am curious how effective is using a bellows and cranking air by hand into a forge like this one? I ask, because I am thinking of setting up a forge area of my own, but without many electronics.
I find that when I start missing my work and the anvil, it means I’m too tired and should take a break or stop for the day. Fatigue is one of the main causes of my shop injuries.
Regarding blower speed control on that blower, this is one experienced vote for "no". I have that very blower and tried three different ways of variable speed control and the motor isn't compatible for that. A gate valve setup (the fancy "redirecting" type that are often seen added to forge blowers works great) gives higher-quality air control anyway. It's a project to build and install it, but worth the time & effort.
When people say metal or stone explodes, they mean it shatters or chips, not a fiery explosion. Technically, it is a explosion, in the sense of a sudden outward expression of intense pressure from a central point that casts pieces outward from the center. It is not a gasoline fiery explosion. I have seen wet rocks in campfire shatter and cast stony debris several feet. If that hits you in the body or in the eyes, you're going to hurt. It is hot, jagged, and accelerating!
With regards to things exploding, I've only seen it happen once during a bonfire. Someone threw some river rocks around the bonfire as a low-effort fire ring. A couple of the river rocks did actually pop and explode because the water they were saturated with was heated too quickly and the steam made them pop. Idk if that can happen with water saturated bricks but if you just do a small fire for a while to thoroughly dry the forge before going full blast then there shouldn't be a problem.
Rocks do explode, but ONLY when you use river rocks, the moisture in the porous rocks expands and it will explode. Otherwise, things just chip and break,
I’m always yelling, “You had THE ENTIRE EARTH IN ALL DIRECTIONS to fly into, but you just HAD to fly into my 🤬EYE!!!!” Safety first, wear your safety glasses!
Idk if anyone would but river rocks that have been found submerged, can explode due to the water trapped inside turning into steam that causes a pressure build up inside the rock. So, dont use river rocks.
I have a permanent scar on the back of my thumb from hitting an axehead with a lump hammer. A chip flew off and I never even felt it. Just wondered where all the blood was coming from and why. A trip to hospital then followed to have the shard removed, plus stiches. Just thought I’d mention it. Great channel, have been watching for years.
Work hardened struck tools are no joke. I had a very close call with a chip shooting off of a top tool that cut open the side of my knee to the bone. If it had been a little higher or a different angle it would have been much worse and almost certainly embedded. I know another smith who has a piece of tool shrapnel embedded in his liver that can't be removed. Less on is, keep your tools dressed and at the first sign of mushrooming, grind it back.
My friend, I'm from Brazil and I still don't have much ability to fully understand the English language. However, the way you explain and demonstrate this subject makes me understand everything perfectly. Thank you very much for your videos and I hope everything goes well for your projects! Cheers!
He’s one of the best there is if not the best I watched a lot of people who try to show how to forge and no one does it like John here
Thank you for such brilliant explanation. I am a 23 year old norwegian, who just about 2 weeks ago started blacksmithing. I have made my first tong out of rebar, but I wil have to modify my forge a little, since it is based on the first model you showed us on the channel about 3 weeks ago. Now I want to build it up like you did in this video. You really inspire, so thank you and keep up the good work
Glad it was helpful!
It’s written “tongs”. Thong is a piece of lady underwear! Good work btw
@@Mishkiniskalvis I was worried about getting that wrong. Was just to lazy to correct it :p thank you
Albert Einstein said "If you can't explain it to a 6 yr old, you don't understand it yourself." Sir, I dare say you have a serious grasp of the subject at hand, and I might add you're not selfish with the knowledge. Thank you!!
Whether you know it or not, your content shows just how much can be achieved by a Can Do Attitude. I appreciate you and all the fruits of your labor, thank you so very much!
I've been using a JABOD for two years while I slowly build a more permanent setup; I use a shopvac as a blower. I made a wooden gate valve that connects the vacuum hose to a metal pipe that sits in a hole drilled in the side of the box. The pipe itself is positioned a couple inches back from the pot with fire bricks used to form the final air channel. The pipe itself also has additional vents drilled in with tight-fitting slide covers for added air control. The box itself it literally made from scrap leftover after renovating my kitchen, lined on the bottom and side with flat stones and filled with several inches of dirt. The pot was shaped using a dirt-sand-plaster mix that holds for at least a few sessions before needing to be replaced. My box has yet* never caught fire and I insulated well enough that even after burning for a few hours, you feel no heat on the side or bottom. Nearby I keep buckets of water and sand along with two fire extinguishers. Every so often I have an ember jump out and need to douse it. I also only forge when fire risks are very low, mostly in spring and early winter (like now).
I took this practice up practically on a whim and found I enjoy it rather immensely.
How are you not viral? I just started and am building a forge with my pop! We are using this video as direct and reference! Love from Tennessee!
6:00 I have personally had a chip fly off of my sledgehammer anvil and peirce my leg through my jeans. It wasn't mushroomed and was tempered before it was stuck in the stump. Wear safety glasses! Much appreciation to black bear for always mentioning that.
Thank you for sharing. I like your content.
That explosion at 6:02, very nice, I had to watch it several times💥😂
Good morning John hope all is well. When I got started I built a japanese fuigo used a steel pipe and used large sandstone and clay for the tuyere. Later I Upgraded to clay bricks and pearchased a 2 burner propane forge. All this is thanks to you and several other blacksmith/bladesmiths who have helped me become self taught and always learn something new every day. Thanks you all for sharing your wisdom godbless and be well.
Nice work!
Thank you I still have alot to learn.
Yes, safety are a good thing. Used to have a pair with a metal fragment inbedded in the right lens alongside the temple that had broken off when I was hit by the fragment. Boss was always saying to throw it away and not display it. Company Safety brought new hires around to show what safety grasses are for.
I think there's no better thing to convince someone that safety glasses are important than to show what they can do for you.
I've got a pair I keep around with a track melted down one of the lenses from where a piece of spatter got under my welding hood and ran down my glasses. Glad it didn't go in my eye.
You could use the vevo 22 pound cast steel anvil as an upgrade to the anvil that
you have now
I like your hammer hitting explanation. The old gent that taught me said to strike the hammer in the same place every time and move the work to achieve what you are wanting to make. I always thought that was good advice for a beginner to help them build up "muscle memory". Looking forward to seeing your updated forge in action. Be safe.
I missed watching this after church yesterday. Another excellent video sir.
Edit; I’m one of the guilty ones for advising against poured concrete or river rock forges in the previous video. Dirt is truly nature’s greatest insulator.
sir, i really have to thank you, i've had some blacksmithing tools laying around for years, they were from my great-grandfather, and just focusing on trying to get every together in order to start forging, has really helped me through my depression and anxiety, your videos are just great, keep it going
I realized that the forge I came into posession of recently had a firepot made out of Cast Iron recently (guess how), so i'm looking to this series to get an idea of how to bring it back to working order. Thank You.
Very strong fellow
I've had my eyes on using an electric corded leaf blower because it's adjustable. I love you're videos and I can't hardly wait to get myself setup
Great tip!
@@BlackBearForge CFM means= cubic feet per minute
Ive got one of those blowers permanently installed in my ribbon burner forge! I have an automotive throttle body on it to tune it. I have put a rheostat on it before, but it doesnt sound happy that way.
Just wanna say thanks man, I'm looking into getting into blacksmithing and this is the only channel that doesn't make me feel like a dummy for not having the right equipment and you don't look down on ppl who are just trying to have fun... keep up the good work bud your making ppl hopeful and happy
That looks like something even a woodworker like me could do. I'll be back next week to find out. Thank you for sharing. Have a great day and stay safe.🙂🙂
Another well made video! I've started watching You few years ago, to get some more ideas. Now i could say that You inspired me to start a channel to also learn some blacksmithing to the people in Poland. I am at the beginning of the journey but I hope that some people can learn something from my video aswell. I also try to show other types of handicrafts or crafts on the channel. Best Wishes John, stay safe to be an inspiration :)
Yes they work with a dimmer switch. Ran one for 4 years, you can also choke it with a piece of cardboard on the intake.
When my son was first born I had to be at home. My shop was 4 miles from home. I still had hook orders to fill. I dug a hole in the embankment in the front yard, took my first harbor freight anvil home, stuck a pipe in the ground, attached a hair dryer, lined it with expanded metal from the outside of an old air filter from a generator, maybe threw some sand and plaster of Paris on it. Idr…. Crude though. Half gallons of vodka and baby monitor beside me on my daughter’s outdoor tea party table, a few buckets of coal… never missed a beat.
Much earlier this spring, I finally got around to making my super forge from an old cast iron boiler body, lined the inner walls with clay mined out of the back pasture, and decided to try out the leaf blower repurposed twice from other projects for the forge blower (initially it had been scooped up as an air starter for a jet engine which worked marvelously on sheer volume). I tried a speed controller on it, despite knowing it probably wouldn't do what I was after as it was a two stage blower already, but it would definitely work better on a single speed bounce house blower like yours. I also picked up a ton of salvage piping from a local aerospace company about mid-summer and ended up just running it full bore with a diverter Y section about half way down the tube, which came in perfectly when our weather went to Hades hot in the space of a week, so I had a nice stream of cool air blowing on my backside.
Using it on anthracite coal was great, though still too much flow for lump charcoal; I burned through a few cast iron grates I had down under the coals as a spacer, but on oak lump coals, the gases were still insanely hot and igniting a good 11 feet on top of the exhaust stream! Made for some great pictures, but the tree nearby was not a fan, nor was I for fire concerns. Also tried out deer corn on that batch, and while it smells kind of pleasant, the diverted air stream was still quite powerful and just blew it around my basin for the most part. Before winter fully sets in, I scavenged an old cast iron sink from our bathroom remodeling project that looks like it would make a fantastic forge bowl. It's a good 60 pound lump of back ache, but I'm looking forward to trying it out.
It's an iterative process. 😉
You could even drive a length of 1 inch square tube (or whatever size) into the stump as a socket to hold hardy tools when you need a fuller or cutter
Black locust is flourescent! It glows green under blacklight!
I built a brake drum forge and I’m using a blower identical to yhe Vevor (but with no brand). I use a normal lighting dimmer to control the blower. Works great.
Another possibilit for an outside forge is a cut down 44 gall (Australia) drum. Iused this filled with clay from my dam, and an old vacuum cleaner that could be set up to blow. An old car heater fan and a 12V battery worked Ok too but not for welding. love your videos.
You're a great blacksmith teacher...
Greetings from Toledo Spain 👍👏
"If this is you, turn off the fire and practice on wood and nails."
Reminds me of a line from my motorcycle license class, the instructors said that when they found out a student didn't even know how to ride a bicycle they sent him home.
Thanks!
and thank you as well
Just set up a brake drum forge outside and man your so right about working outside its a pain im now wanting to go cut some poles and close it in
This is awesome!!! I am going to use this as my first set up under my 3 wall 10x10 shack I am aloud on my land... Thank you for this great Idea!
Saw one gentleman on YT make a gated y from wood and sheet metal. It was a box with a metal wedge that he could adjust to spill wait way for the twier.
that transition at 5:55, nice work.
Awesome video. I built a dirt forge and used my shop vac. The newer Rigid ones let you hook the hose to the output. "It's Mega Maid, she's gone from suck to blow" - Colonel Sanders (Spaceballs). Through my crucibal in the pit with charcoal and melted a ton of aluminum cans.
I use a router speed controller to adjust my fan speed. Works well.
I have one of those blowers. Odd, the guy who sold it to me at a garage sale said it was for speeding up the drying of mud while drywalling. Anyway i had the same idea and use it in my forge. Works great!
Good morning John, thanks for sharing the home made forge with us. Enjoyed watching, stay safe around there like you always do and winter is coming . Fred.
i get so excited to see your new videos this is by far my favorite blacksmith channel
I put a dimmer switch on an electric leaf blower on my first forge. Used it for 2 years before upgrading.
After 40 odd years of carpentry l still find it a bit windy (a carpenter will know what l mean). That's why l'm a big fan of nailers (air and cordless). Luckily, most of my forging hammers have big faces and the "hammered" look is a feature. Lol. A great video that helps make blacksmithing available to practically anyone. John is an inspiration. Cheers.
Thank you for all your videos, I love what you are teaching and how you are helping people reach it under such a minimal budget.
Just so you are aware, a rock which has water inside of it, can infact make the rock explode due to the water reaching a boiling tempature. I have seen multiple rock explosions made from river rock being used to make fire pits. This is of course natural stones not concrete.
As a teenager my neighbors fire pit which I watched them build, exploded from the center. It had nothing in it other than the rocks that lined the bottom and the sides, and brush from our yards.
Nice blower, I'm using a similar one and have been using it for 6 years now. Never had any problem with it.
Good to hear
Good morning from Alaska Thank you John for another great video.
Glad you enjoyed it
What can explode is mortar if used to hold bricks together before it adequately dried. My mom had a brick-and-mortar fireplace built in the back yard, and it did indeed explode when they didn't wait the recommended time to use it. The explosive force was water that had not yet evaporated from the mortar... a steam explosion.
55 years ago, I was working construction driving a cut nail with a straight claw hammer. A chip flew off and hit me almost dead center in the right eye. I could actually see the red hot metal, flying toward my eye. Fortunately, the metal chip was so hot that it literally cauterized the eye as it entered. An operation to remove the chip and several weeks of recovery ensued. So while neither the hammer nor the nail exploded, one of them did shatter with explosive type force. Enough force to Pierce my eye with a shard about half the size of a wooden match head.
I know someone who had a similar experience with the claws of the hammer flying of and almost taking his eye out
John, great information and another great video, I've had a few chips come off of some old metal tools but I've never actually had any stick in me or cut me, it's rather rare even if you don't keep your tools in good condition, i agree with you, keep the tools cleaned and in good repair and they'll give you decades of good service.
I'm looking forward to your next video, I've got an old heavy truck brake drum I'd like to turn into a forge, thinking about using a blower from either a school bus or truck for my blower on it and connect it to my solar power in my forge. Stay safe and keep these great and informative videos coming please.
John V.
Hammer horn, brilliant 😅
Everyone needs another deck, nailing down a 12’ square of decking will make anyone minimally competent with a hammer;
Or roof a house, or shed or porch;
Or drive some tee posts for a fence with a hand sledge, not fun but you will learn
Nice setup.
Excellent content. Can't wait for the next one!
My grandfather's forge was a "ducks nest". It was built from 1x6 lumber. Probably as wide as yours. Maybe a foot or two longer.
You do great work
Another great project/video! Thanks again John.
I was amused when you had the plastic strips flapping as the air blew through the tube in the forge. It reminded me of a dog licking peanut butter out of an empty jar.
I appreciate this series because, with the limited amount of space that I have, I could actually have a forge.
Can't get over your weather range. Hot, dry and a forest fire over the hill but expecting up to 2" snow in the next fortnight? Look forward to the next video to see the forge in action.
I think that sledge hammer anvil is better than Rail Road Tracks and the anvil I built from mild steel.
Interesting topic.
Thanks
Great tips! Thank you.
This has helped me.
Best Smith on UA-cam!
Morning Mr John ☺️, such a neat idea for a jdbf.
Looking forward to seeing things progress.
Really interesting content.
Blessings y'all
Crawford out 🙏🔥⚒️🧙🏼♂️
As a 3rd generation Chimney mason I believe people are referring to wet rocks being right in the fire. Don't do that lol, but as far as brick and cinder blocks, they will not explode. They may Crack and fracture but it is not explosive. The likelihood of failure is worse if you heat them quickly and they are frozen or filled with water and are immediately next to the fire. But dry brick are fine right against the fire.
Tldr: can confirm he is correct about the bricks and block not exploding.
Offsetting the air is how I run my cheap forge.
I use a hairdryer into a pipe and adjust the air mostly by moving the dryer closer or further from the pipe like you suggested with the blower.
It works pretty well and that's using an old cast iron bbq/fire pit box with ash as insulation, but it's thick iron and even after hours of work it's never shown any sign of getting super hot.
do you think a cordless hairdryer or leaf blower would be enough? ive only got a generator at my garden and no other stable scource of electricity
I connected my hairdryer to my coal forge air pipe with a rubber plumbing pipe coupler. Then l wired a rotary dimmer switch to the receptacle that l plug the dryer into. Gives really fine control of the air flow. Can axtually dial it down just enough to keep the fire going. Cut my coal consumption down almost 40 %.
@@dominikmeril1720 I'm not sure if cordless would be a great idea, I often find myself at the forge for 2+ hours at least so I'm not sure how well a battery would hold up just on that part.
While you can keep it far enough away for heat to not be an issue i would also be a little concerned about using a potentially flammable battery near the forge when it's up and running either.
I'm using a cheap 20m extension cable for mine.
Leaf blower might work depending on the power of it, I find a hairdryer can put out enough airflow to melt steel in my smaller charcoal forge if I'm not careful and running it right up against the pipe at max power. That was a lesson from my first attempt at forge welding.
@@bunyanforgings7849 i would use a metal tube as extension so that the hair dryer or leaf blower wouldn't get hot. That would be 1m/±3 feet of distance to the coal. 🤔i just don't know how long that would last. Maybe a cordless hair dryer and charge it with the generator i have. But gasoline is pretty expensive here in germany and i don't have a car so there's the problem of transport
I use the bouncy house blower with a 2” pvc pipe piped into the bung of a 55 gal drum, the drum is then turned upside down and the pipe is burried back to the blower, i then took a 1 tone disk brake and cut the bottom of the drum the take the brake
I then drop a 7-1/4 circular saw blade into the brake pot, fill with tinder and coal, light and forge
very good
Bertram craft And Wilderness showed up nice outdoor Forge on his channel too
I would like to say that I enjoy your channel. I can't. It would be an understatement. I look forward to you video each week. Thanks for making such great videos.
Удачи вам, ребятушечки ковальные!!!))✊✌
you can put the stump up on blocks!!
Love the budget videos
Ahh the strangeness of weather. You're hot and dry with a wildfire nearby. A friend in Estes Park posted a picture of a picnic table with 6 inches of snow on it from Las night.🤔
Don't forget that video is prerecorded. It was hot and dry when I recorded the video but we now have about 6" of fresh snow on the ground and as I type its only 8 degrees out. Next week video has been filmed, so I'll probably be back to this outdoor forge in 2 weeks
Something to keep in mind with the bouncy house blowers. I bought one for my forge setup as well, they are a great value for the cost. However a look at the intended use and design is warranted. They are designed to maintain a high static pressure to make a bouncy house work. They are not really designed for moving large volumes of air at low pressure. If you look at the motor cooling air, there is an outlet on the motor but the air supply (at least on mine) comes from the blower itself. There isn't a separate cooling fan specifically to cool the motor. Therefore if you reduce the back pressure you could also reduce the cooling air supplied to the motor. Moving more air also increases the load on the motor increasing the need for cooling. I'm sure the engineers allowed for at least some air loss in the design but without knowing for sure how robust that allowance is caution is advised. While they might run just fine with little to no back pressure I opted for a bigger blower (1hp) and put an adjustable restriction in the outlet to maintain a fair amount of backpressure on the blower itself. So far I've never had a problem. It may be a non issue depending on how the engineers designed them but I wouldn't like the unpleasant experience of looking up from the forge to find the blower blowing smoke from the motor or just stopping from overheating.
How well do you think securing the hammer head on its side would work? That way you have more anvil work area.
In a little grill forge only sand is fine? with some stones
You are absolutely correct saying cinder blocks will not explode
I think they probably misunderstood something the only rocks that I know of that will explode when heated (more so a violent fragmentation that can shoot it across the room) is certain rocks that you will find in rivers lakes and oceans I'm going to try not to bore people with geological explanation but basically certain types of rocks absorb water very deeply over a prolonged period of time and when you heat up the stone the water inside of it turns to gas with no where for it to go so the rock fragment some can be pretty mild others very violent depending on the rocks structure and how much water it
However there are two things to know
1. The period of time need for these rocks to soak up water is not measured in hours or even years it is measured in centuries
2. Concrete will never have this happen
Simple explanation concrete is made through chemical reaction water makes it harder this is why old concrete is brittle and because of this chemical reaction water will be absorbed into it however it will form a new compound instead of being trapped in between the individual grain
I was wondering what that red powder was until almost 3 minutes in I realized it was Southern dirt.
In my first shop class, they taught me that smacking two claw hammers together could shatter sharp pieces off because they are both hardened steel.
That's a good reason to make sure you hit the soft red hot metal your forging, not you anvil. Even regular anvils are hardened and can cause a hammer to chip if you hit the anvil
Good point, the anvil isn't really the target anyway, I suppose.
As a kid I was misusing a hammer against a chisel or something, and a chip flew off hard enough to embed itself in my calf. I would have worn safety glasses if I had them, and knew what they were.
how many cinder blocks did you use? What kind of dirt did you use? What is the name of the square stone you used under the dirt?
Probably about 2 dozen. But use what you have available, it doesn't have to be blocks. The big thing is to make sure there is plenty of dirt, the type doesn't matter, so that the fire is not up against the block, brick or stone.
I am curious how effective is using a bellows and cranking air by hand into a forge like this one? I ask, because I am thinking of setting up a forge area of my own, but without many electronics.
Bellows are quite effective, but can be a big project to build correctly. Hand cranked blowers are also a good option
I find that when I start missing my work and the anvil, it means I’m too tired and should take a break or stop for the day. Fatigue is one of the main causes of my shop injuries.
Can’t cinderblocks explode if there is moisture in them then heated up?
They can shatter, I think explode is an exaggeration. So don't use wet blocks and most important build up the dirt lining so the blocks don't get hot
Regarding blower speed control on that blower, this is one experienced vote for "no". I have that very blower and tried three different ways of variable speed control and the motor isn't compatible for that. A gate valve setup (the fancy "redirecting" type that are often seen added to forge blowers works great) gives higher-quality air control anyway. It's a project to build and install it, but worth the time & effort.
They'll Explode 🤣⚒️🤣
I bet you went through a couple batteries trying to drill that locust. Great video!
No, it went pretty well with that aggressive bit.
When people say metal or stone explodes, they mean it shatters or chips, not a fiery explosion. Technically, it is a explosion, in the sense of a sudden outward expression of intense pressure from a central point that casts pieces outward from the center. It is not a gasoline fiery explosion. I have seen wet rocks in campfire shatter and cast stony debris several feet. If that hits you in the body or in the eyes, you're going to hurt. It is hot, jagged, and accelerating!
Limestone explodes, not any stone explodes, and a lot of stones will take intense heat
great representative for fire ....wohhooo exploding hammers lol ...its very difficult to get hammers to spall at all in my experience
With regards to things exploding, I've only seen it happen once during a bonfire. Someone threw some river rocks around the bonfire as a low-effort fire ring. A couple of the river rocks did actually pop and explode because the water they were saturated with was heated too quickly and the steam made them pop. Idk if that can happen with water saturated bricks but if you just do a small fire for a while to thoroughly dry the forge before going full blast then there shouldn't be a problem.
Min 3:42 Did someone mention 'Ribbon'? Ta-da!!! 🤪
A Y PVC fitting with a gate on the Y works great. I control the gate with an old auto choke cable.
hey black bear forge, what kind of dirt? is it clay? refractory? or just dirt from the ground?
This guy is going to motivate me to start blacksmithing
Rocks do explode, but ONLY when you use river rocks, the moisture in the porous rocks expands and it will explode. Otherwise, things just chip and break,
I’m always yelling, “You had THE ENTIRE EARTH IN ALL DIRECTIONS to fly into, but you just HAD to fly into my 🤬EYE!!!!”
Safety first, wear your safety glasses!
How can you have a fire inside
You need a chimney. something like I have in this video ua-cam.com/video/Vs5GYztmcfY/v-deo.htmlsi=H0tn0LBd0P-TVTqw
Idk if anyone would but river rocks that have been found submerged, can explode due to the water trapped inside turning into steam that causes a pressure build up inside the rock. So, dont use river rocks.
👍🏻👍🏻
I found that these type of motors don't run well with a rheostat fitted, I use one myself with a gate valve fitted and works great
I have a permanent scar on the back of my thumb from hitting an axehead with a lump hammer. A chip flew off and I never even felt it. Just wondered where all the blood was coming from and why. A trip to hospital then followed to have the shard removed, plus stiches. Just thought I’d mention it. Great channel, have been watching for years.
Guess we’ll have to wait a week to see things explode…..or not. 🤣🤣🤣 so many things get misinterpreted or mis communicated.
Work hardened struck tools are no joke. I had a very close call with a chip shooting off of a top tool that cut open the side of my knee to the bone. If it had been a little higher or a different angle it would have been much worse and almost certainly embedded. I know another smith who has a piece of tool shrapnel embedded in his liver that can't be removed. Less on is, keep your tools dressed and at the first sign of mushrooming, grind it back.